Manager Ozzie Guillen before Thursday’s series finale in San Francisco discussed the team’s late-inning options. He’s hoping to stay away from both Heath Bell, who’s pitched in three straight games, and Steve Cishek. Wednesday, Cishek pitched two innings and on Tuesday he warmed up a couple of times.

“We need him, but this guy’s career is more important than winning another game,” Guillen said.

If a save situation presents itself Thursday, Guillen said he would call upon Edward Mujica or Ryan Webb. As far as this weekend in San Diego, Guillen was noncommittal. He’s not prepared to complete remove Bell from the closer role, but he didn’t rule out using him in the seventh or eighth either.

“People go, ‘Wow, what’s he doing?’” Guillen said. “I don’t work for people. I have 25 guys here to take care of. It drives everybody crazy? Well, you don’t think I don’t have blood in my veins? It drives me crazy more than anybody else. I’m the one who put him there. I’m the one that has to take him out. I’m the one that’s going to take the blame. All those people worried about it, relax.”

Guillen added he didn’t want to lift Bell after he allowed three hits to start the ninth late Wednesday. He didn’t consider it a good move for Bell’s sake, but he felt he had to do it to give the team a chance to win. Guillen was concerned the effects of losing that game would have lingered for a few weeks.

“It’s hard for me to say, because like I tell people, we are a better team with Bell closing,” Guillen said. “That’s what we want. That’s what I want. I never manage for the fans. I never manage for the owners. I never manage for media. I manage for the ball club. Obviously we need wins and I’m going to give Bell every opportunity to fail. He’s getting paid to be closer. That’s the reason we signed him, to be the closer…He’s throwing the ball good. He’s just not getting people out.

“If our pitching staff was better with him not being the closer, that’s a different scenario, but everything goes perfect when this man is the close. That’s why I’m not going to unplug that yet. It’s too early. If you do that, maybe they lose confidence…It’s not easy to have patience. It’s not easy to lose games that way, but we are a way better ball club with him as a closer and I’m going to go from there.”

The numbers are ugly. Bell’s strikeouts per nine innings are sitting at 5.87 and his walks per nine an unsightly 9.39. He’s also allowing a .387 batting average on balls in play, which suggests some bad luck as well. Bell’s velocity also has been down a tad, but nothing alarming. Last season his fastball averaged 93.8 miles per hour according to Fangraphs. This season Bell’s average fastball 92.9 miles per hour.

“I worry about location and I worry about strikes,” Guillen said. “The ball is coming out of his hand pretty good.”

Hitters just aren’t swinging at much of anything Bell throws outside the strike zone. In 2011, 30.7 percent of their swings off Bell were at non-strikes. That figure so far this season is down to 19.4 percent. As his strikeout rate suggests, Bell isn’t missing many bats either. Hitters’ contact rate (percentage a batter makes contact when he swings) against him is 88.5 percent, up from 73.4 percent in 2010 and 81.2 percent in 2011.

Comments (4 Comments)

Good to see the team playing better Still have to improve with RISP and need everyone to contribute. Closer and a cleanup hitter have been problematic.I’m confident we’ll straighten it out and get on a roll.

Who is this Nunez fellow of whom you speak? There has NEVER been a Nunez pitching for the Marlins in last few years. By the way, do any of these guys tell the truth? How old do you think Pujols REALLY is? He ain’t no 32. He makes Chris Weinke–NOW!!!!–look young.

If Albert Pujols is 32 that makes Joe Biden around 55. There have been actresses who have not fudged the truth about age as much as the rapidly deteriorating “10 Year Albatross” impersonating the “Most Feared Right Handed Hitter In Baseball”

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JUAN C. RODRIGUEZ
My career covering the Marlins has been all about good timing. At Florida Today, I became the...